■ Packard Plant. One of the most modern factories in the world when built in the early 1900s, the plant closed in 1958 and has slowly rotted away ever since. George Galster, a Wayne State University professor and author of “Driving Detroit: The Quest for Respect in the Motor City,” says the Packard Plant “symbolizes the massive post-war loss of industrial tax base from the city.”

■ Coleman A. Young International Airport (Formerly City Airport). The residential blocks west of the airport contain some of the most vacant streets in the city. In 1960, two-thirds of all the people living in metro Detroit lived in the city. Today, fewer than one in five people in the tri-county area do. As a result, the blocks west of the airport offer some of the bleakest vistas in urban America.

■ Any DDOT bus stop. To get a true picture of what Detroiters live with, visit any bus stop and talk to commuters waiting patiently for the Detroit Department of Transportation bus that may or may not come. And they could watch the suburban SMART buses flash by without stopping to and from downtown and reflect on how DDOT and SMART still remain separate operations.

■ I-94 Industrial Park. Since the late ’90s, the city has bought and razed nearly 200 acres of homes to create a modern industrial park on the east side. But years after its beginning, most the of the site remains urban prairie, an illegal dumping ground populated mostly by stray dogs.

■ Brewster-Douglass. This near east side remnant of public housing is due to fall to the wrecking ball soon. In the meantime, the ruins of it stand as an eyesore reminder of failed public policies.

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■ Detroit RiverWalk. In 10 short years, the city’s formerly industrialized east waterfront has been transformed into more than 3 miles of recreational promenade. Numerous visitors stroll, bike and otherwise enjoy the RiverWalk each year.

Campus Martius Park. Though modest in size, this historic heart of downtown once again flourishes as the city’s key gathering spot. It is a prime lunchtime spot for many of the newest employees downtown working for Quicken Loans founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert.

D-Town Farm: The city’s largest example of urban agriculture symbolizes the recreation of a local food economy in Detroit. It is one of several hundred community gardens located throughout the city.

Eastern Market. Catering to working-class and upscale shoppers, Eastern Market continues to evolve with new food-related offerings. The market is now in its third year of opening on Tuesdays. It hopes to be a seven-day-a-week market one day, and a community kitchen for food entrepreneurs is in the works for Shed 5.

M@dison Building: Detroit is fast becoming a hotbed for entrepreneurial activity, and the Gilbert-inspired M@dison is one of the centers of it. Some of the start-up firms at the M@dison are already growing big enough to move out.